


I Love You With Every Tentacle (Drabble Collection)

by kitausuret



Series: Kinktober 2018 [14]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Spider-Man (Comicverse), Venom (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Death of a character referred to, Disability Frustrations, Drabble Collection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Forgiveness, Guilt, I hurt myself writing this, Kinktober with no Kink, M/M, Multi, Other, Suicide mention, and then it got real real sad, friendly tentacles, sorry it started off as fluff and humor, they get progressively sadder, they've all had hard lives but together they get through it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 23:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16314890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitausuret/pseuds/kitausuret
Summary: There's a lot of love in Venom's tentacles. And boy, does the symbiote have alotof tentacles.(Kinktober Day 14: Tentacles)





	I Love You With Every Tentacle (Drabble Collection)

**Author's Note:**

> A handful of drabbles that start off cheery and get more sentimental and eventually just get really sad. Archive warning applies to the last story but refers to a death which occurred in canon back in 2000.
> 
> All stories based within _Dust to Dust_ , but that's basically just because that's the easiest way for me to write these.

Having a shapeshifting, alien partner in their bed meant a lot of teeth, a lot of tongue, and a lot of tentacles tended to be involved in Eddie and Flash’s lovemaking sessions. But those tentacles could be surprisingly helpful in other ways. After all, the symbiote was there to help, wasn’t it?

\-----

Flash lay cuddled up against Eddie, sweat a sheen on both their bodies and blissful content on their faces. Even the symbiote was spread languidly across them, tendrils moving over them both, enjoying the aftermath of the last hour. 

And then Flash’s stomach made a gurgling noise. 

Eddie pulled back a little to look at him and Flash snorted in laughter. “What can I say; you make me work up an appetite.” 

“ _ Tch _ . Ought to keep a Clif bar in the bedside table or something…”

“I don’t wanna leave bed,” Flash complained, burying his face into the dark matter pooled into a larger lump on Eddie’s chest. The symbiote responded by forming a little mouth and licking at Flash’s ear. He laughed again and kissed the tiny mouth before it melted back into the black.

Eddie hummed thoughtfully as he let a tentacle twine around his finger. “I  _ could _ go get those leftovers.”

“No, you’re warm; stop.”

“You’re clingy,” he teased, kissing the top of Flash’s head. 

And then they both looked at Venom. 

White eyespots formed and looked back. 

“Hey, V-”

“Darling, would you-”

“No.”

Flash made a noise like a whine. “Come ooooon, all you have to do is stretch a tentacle out, didn’t you spend like, two months around Mister Fantastic? I  _ know _ he probably gets the remote from across the room like, all the time for Sue-”

Despite not having much in the way of emotive features, the symbiote seemed incredulous. Teeth and a tongue formed, giving way to a face, and then, “Fine.”

“Love you, buddy,” Flash said. He pressed a kiss to Venom’s head as they watched a tendril snake around the bedroom, out the door, and all the way to the kitchen. A few seconds later, it reappeared with a leftover slice of chocolate cake. 

Eddie laughed at his other’s rather obvious choice and Flash reached for it. But before Flash could even swipe frosting, the symbiote opened its mouth wide and devoured the whole thing, plate and all. They stared at their partner, Flash looking ready to both laugh and cry. 

The symbiote swiped its tongue over its sharp teeth dramatically. “Oh, I am sorry - you meant  _ you  _ wanted to eat it.” 

“Hmph!” Flash feigned annoyance and looked at Eddie. “I swear, he gets it from you.”

“From  _ me?  _ Eugene, I am  _ astonished _ you would accuse me of influencing our partner in such a manner.”

But a few seconds later, another tentacle went out and came back in - this time with a bag of baby carrots. The symbiote pressed the bag into Flash’s chest. 

“You are  _ welcome _ .”

And with that, the symbiote sank back into itself, content with its generosity, and once again sprawled out over them. The two men lapsed into silence.

“Well, Flash, this  _ is  _ healthier-”

“You wanted some of that cake, too.”

A tentacle snuck into the bag, wrapped around a carrot, and pushed it at Flash’s face. 

“He’s only got your best interests at heart.”

“Yeah, yeah, friendly tentacles, all right…” 

\-----

Eddie sat in one of the cubicle desks at the ESU library, checking his watch again. An hour and thirty minutes to close. He still wanted to find that one article from the  _ Star  _ publication and take some notes on it, but the archives were all the way downstairs… He frowned, worried about losing his place in his work. 

He felt a small, questioning notion in the back of his mind; his other, probably getting restless after so long working on this. He swore he felt a tendril sneak out, but ignored it. The symbiote knew better than to risk attracting unnecessary attention - they were in this graduate program on the government’s dime, but more than that, it was important to  _ him _ . 

Even if his beloved didn’t understand, at least it was supportive. Mostly he just appreciated the  _ patience _ . 

His mind wandered again to where the articles were, he even knew the date and year, but…

Something rustled beside him. An inky black tendril held up…

...a copy of the July 17, 1973 San Diego  _ Star _ . Eddie stifled a laugh and placed a quick kiss to the tentacle before taking the paper.  _ Thank you, love.  _

_ “Want to support you, Eddie. Want to be good. Want you to be happy.” _

The surge of affection had him closing his eyes and sending it right back.

_ This makes me happy. And so do you.  _

\-----

Flash tried to be an optimist about life. He really, really did. But sometimes things just kind of sucked and the inconveniences were borderline infuriating. 

Like when your shampoo bottle was empty and the other one was on the other side of the shower, as if getting washed up wasn’t already enough of a fucking  _ ordeal _ for him. He banged his head on the back of the shower wall and stared at the other side. He could probably call out, see if Eddie could give him a hand, but no, Flash’s pride burned. It was bad enough he needed help getting cleaned out after one of their  _ sessions _ , but it could be passed off as “making out in the shower after sex isn’t that bad”. Eddie was a considerate kind of guy that way, more than just Venom probably telling him to be nice.

This was different. 

He ran his hands through his wet hair and cursed. Fuck,  _ fuck!  _ What good was a shiny medal and a picture of him shaking the President’s hand and being thanked for his service if he  _ couldn’t even take a proper fucking shower.  _

He was just about to give up and try to salvage something left from his empty bottle when something peeked in through the edge of the curtain. 

A black tendril. 

His heart wrenched a little at seeing his partner - it always did - but he managed a weak smile. “Hey, buddy. What’s going on?”

It swept closer, perhaps inspecting the empty bottle in his hand. Then, the tentacle turned back, wrapped around the shampoo Eddie used, and pressed it into Flash’s chest. Flash ducked his head and looked away, embarrassed but grateful. 

“Heard me bang my head, huh.”

He gave the tentacle a small, affectionate stroke, fighting the instinct to beg his partner to just  _ please, please rebond, just for a moment _ \- but he knew Venom had his reasons for this. He knew whatever pain Venom and Eddie had caused each other in the past, this was a way for them to work through it, and undo the damage of an abusive host. 

“Thank you, old friend. I think… I think I’ve got it from here. I think I’ll be okay.”

The tentacle brushed up against his cheek, lingering there, and he couldn’t help but press a small kiss to it. Flash forced a laugh. “Okay, go, go; I promise I’m fine.” 

That little part of Venom pulled back and disappeared out the curtain, back to his host. 

Well… at least he knew Venom still cared.

\-----

It was the first time Eddie came here with someone else. Well, someone other than just Venom. He’d been reluctant to, at first, because how would that seem? He and Flash were finally, actually together, Venom more or less back at full health and cognition, a Master’s degree under his belt… but here he was, still processing this. Still mourning. Eight years later. 

“I can wait over by that bench, if you like?”

Eddie shook his head, grasping Flash’s hand. Even after all they’d been through the past couple years, it still felt strange to show any vulnerability to him. Venom sent him gentle reassurance, a handful of tendrils wrapping around his and Flash’s joined hands. 

“No, I-I’d like you to be with me. If you’re all right with that.” 

Flash lifted their hands to his lips and placed a kiss to the back of Eddie’s. “Whatever I can do for you, Eddie, you know I will.”

He closed his eyes as they stung with unshed tears, and he sat down before the headstone, helping Flash to sit as well. Eddie placed a bouquet before the marker, because she’d never been anything but practical, but she’d always liked flowers. 

“A lot’s changed in the past year, Annie.  _ I’ve  _ changed a lot. 

“Finally got that Master’s degree I always wanted to pursue. A little weird when most of your professors are a full decade your junior, but…” Eddie chuckled a little through his tears. “Better late than never, right? Anyways… looking at the job market. You always told me I could get in at the  _ Bugle _ and you know what? I think you were right. I’m going to go for it. I couldn’t do right by you, and you paid for my mistakes, but--”

He looked away at the trees in the distance before turning back to the marble slab, and his vision blurred as he remembered that day, that horrible day of bounding up the stairs to her apartment, ready to do anything,  _ anything  _ to get her back, and finding her five stories below--

A fresh wave of sobs hit him like a punch to the gut and he hunched over, weeping, Flash holding him tight and petting his hair, and then Venom was there too, wrapping around him, his partner’s voice sorrowful in his mind,  _ “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Eddie,”  _ and he’d never felt such sadness from the symbiote. He’d never felt so much  _ regret _ , not even when they were working through the memories of a year or more of growing resentment. And then the tendrils sinking into him were also sunk into Flash, connecting them, and he sobbed into Flash’s chest, years of pain and anguish pouring out into the bond, like a wall had just been knocked down. 

“I’m here, I’m here,” Flash reassured him softly, holding him tight, and Venom held them both, full of pain and regret and such, such sadness. 

“I loved her so much,” he managed to choke out. Venom formed a kind of cloth and let Eddie clear his face off with it. “I’m sorry, I can’t - I can’t stop-”

“Eddie, Eddie no,” Flash whispered, smiling gently through his own tears. “I would never ask you to stop.  _ Never _ . You never stop loving someone just because they’re gone. And that’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

_ “It was mine.” _

They lapsed into silence at Venom’s resolute confession. 

_ “I hurt her. I did not understand what she meant to you, and so I hurt her. The way I hurt you, Eddie, and Flash, and the way I have hurt others, and I--” _

The tendrils tightened, then slackened. 

_ “I do not know if that is forgivable. No matter what was done to me, no matter the reasons why I did what I did, they still happened and I cannot fix them.” _

“I know, Venom.” Eddie closed his eyes.

Flash nodded in solemn agreement. “We have all made terrible mistakes.”

“But I…” 

He reached out, taking a handful of tentacles, pulling them close to his heart. 

_ I forgive you. _


End file.
